Parent's Youth
by Aphrodite in Disguise
Summary: Mrs Bennet and her husband were very different. However did they end up getting married? The girls discover the truth one rainy day
1. Chapter 1

**A/N- I wanted to do this little one shot forever, so here it is.**

It was a rainy day, and every lady and gentleman in Britain knows how disagreeable they are. But every child, especially the five little Bennet girls know that when the outdoors cannot be attacked, it is time to wreak havoc at home. This is precisely what they did do to relieve their restless spirits, and when Mrs Bennet walked into her eldest daughters' room, she was reminded of the magnitude of damage a few little girls can cause.

The five sisters had, upon realising that they could not have a picnic as previously planned, taken upon themselves to make all the pillows in the household feel their misery, and were engaging in a pillow fight in the bedroom shared by the oldest two, Jane and Elizabeth. The youngest Lydia and Kitty were only five and six and had such ideas all the time and their elders usually agreed, they themselves being only eight, nine and ten. On this occasion, the pillow fight idea had been met with great approval, and much to Mrs Bennet's dismay, the little room was as messy as a battlefield.

She had entered the room an hour after the rain started, recalling that she needed to check on her little girls to ensure that their limbs as well the furniture was intact, and then promptly wished that she had checked on them sooner, when she saw the miserable condition of the pillows.

'Jane! Elizabeth! What is this?'

'A pillow fight, Mama. Would you like to join us?', asked Jane innocently.

'This is unacceptable!''

'You don't have to play if you don't like it, Mama', said Elizabeth.

'Nobody is supposed to have pillow fights! Haven't I told you that before?'

'But they are fun, Mama', said Kitty.

Mrs Bennet fought the urge to smile.

'Be as that may, they are not a suitable pass time for a lady, or a little girl either.'

'Would it be all right if we were boys, Mama?', asked Mary.

Mrs Bennet threw her hands up in frustration.

'I give up! Lord, these girls! Go, wait in your father's study till I have dealt with this mess. AND I EXPECT YOU TO WAIT QUIETLY!', Mrs Bennet yelled the last part and the girls scampered off, rather frightened by the outburst. The girls sat silently in the study for a while, but this good behavior could hardly be expected to last, and Lydia at last broke the silence.

'Where is Papa?'

'At the Lucases.', replied Jane.

'If only we were there too!', said Lydia mournfully.

'Lady Lucas wouldn't stop Lottie from playing a little game.', said Lizzy.

'I didn't know Papa had a diary!', observed Mary.

'What?', asked Lizzy.

Mary merely pointed to a diary that lay innocently on the table. The girls stared at it for a few minutes as if expecting it to explode.

'We shouldn't read his diary.', started Jane tentatively.

Mary nodded.

'So that's that?', asked Lydia.

'Yes.', said Lizzy before reaching out and grabbing the diary, causing her sisters to grin at her antics.

'Open it quickly!', squealed Kitty.

Lizzy gave her sisters a cheeky grin and then flipped through the diary leisurely. She read a few pages, smiled to herself, then read a little more. She was very much aware of her curious sisters who were trying to peep at it from behind back, but chose to ignore them till Lydia rather loudly demanded that Lizzy should read out the entries.

'Be quiet, Lydia, do you want Mama to come here?'

'I want to know what's written!', she grumbled.

'Read out, Lizzy.', said Jane calmly, and Elizabeth complied for she deeply respected her sister.

'All right, but let me tell you first that this entry is about Papa meeting Mama. It isn't a new diary, but a very old one. Listen now.

 _Had to attend a ball today, don't really like them but one doesn't have much of a choice in this society. This one wasn't so boring. Met Francis Gardiner. She's pretty and cheerful company. Danced two dances with her. Looks like she has many suitors clamoring for her hand. Well, I'm not joining the list anytime soon. Mrs White, White's young widow keeps trying to entice me into matrimony with her. She's so obvious that its quite pathetic. One would think she would be more faithful to White's memory, he doted on her so.'_

The girls giggled to themselves ad then Lizzy turned the page and remarked,

'It doesn't look like Papa wrote in his diary very often.'

'Why?', queried Kitty.

'Hear this entry

 _I will be engaged to Miss Gardiner by this time tomorrow if she will have me, which she probably will because the match is most advantageous to her, she being a tradesman's daughter and I being a gentleman. I am sick of single life, for all sorts of women seem too eager to marry the money I own, something that Francis doesn't do to anyone, perhaps because she doesn't need to. Anyhow, she is good looking, has a good dowry, and seems to be great company, for why else would men flock around her so. I hope we will be married soon, I don't want a long engagement.'_

The girls looked at each other, till Mary broke the silence.

'That didn't tell us very much.'

'No, it didn't.', agreed Jane.

'Should we ask Mama about it?', wondered Lydia.

'Be quiet, Lydia! We can't tell anyone that we read Papa's diary without his permission!', said Kitty.

'We don't need to mention that to Mama.', mused Lizzy.

'Don't need to mention what to me?', asked a voice behind them, starting them.

The girls turned around to see their mother looking at them sternly, then glanced at the incriminating evidence still in Elizabeth's hands. Lizzy sighed.

This was going to be a long day.

 **A/N- I rather like this one shot. Would anyone like to hear Mrs Bennet's version of the tale? Do review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N- This should have been posted long ago, but my forgetfulness made it late. My apologies for the delay. I hope you all enjoy it anyway.**

'What is it that you need not mention to me?', asked Mrs Bennet again, sternly.

'Nothing at all Mama.', said Kitty quickly.

'And is that nothing in your hand, Elizabeth Bennet?', she asked.

Elizabeth knew it when she was trapped, so all she could do was hand the diary to her mother and pray fervently for the safety of her eardrums. Mrs Bennet flipped through the diary, reading through the entries.

'It is very wrong to read another's diary, girls.', said Mrs Bennet not looking very angry even as she scolded, for something in the diary had improved her spirits dramatically.

'But you just did, Mama.', pointed out Mary.

'I am your father's wife.', said Mrs Bennet self importantly.

'So I concluded.', muttered Lizzy, causing her to be the recipient of her mother's glare.

'As I was saying before Lizzy's wise comment, I am your father's wife. There are no secrets in our marriage.'

'None that you know of, perhaps, but if you keep peeping into my diaries I daresay your opinion would differ.', said Mr Bennet, calmly walking into the study.

'Mr Bennet! What can you mean by startling us so!'

'Nothing at all madam. But I must ask what _you_ mean by reading my diary.'

'It concerns me as well.'

'And so do my accounts, however I never do see you reading them with half the interest.'

'The affairs of our land are your business, Mr Bennet.'

'As are the affairs of my heart. I beg you not to tamper with them.'

'It was us who were reading your diary, Papa. Mama only just took it from us.', said Jane who could vaguely remember times when her parents got along better and hated seeing them argue.

'Truly?', asked Mr Bennet, skeptical.

'Very much so, Mr Bennet. I have only just retrieved your diary from Elizabeth and was merely checking what it was that the girls were reading.'

'And what was it that you read, my dear Lizzy?', asked Mr Bennet, smiling at his daughter.

'You don't write in your diary regularly enough Papa.', said Lydia disapprovingly.

Mr Bennet turned towards her with an indulgent smile.

'I must confess to the truth of the statement, Lyddie. I never can remember my poor abandoned companion for long enough.'

'That's true Papa. First you write that you have no inclination to marry Mama and then you write just before getting engaged to her. It's quite unfair, if you ask me.', said Lizzy.

'How so, Lizzy?'

'How are we to know what happened in between?'

Mr Bennet chuckled.

'Shall we tell them the tale, Mrs Bennet?', he asked, turning to his wife.

'I should think they ought to know.'

'Tell us, Mama.', demanded Kitty.

'I first met your father at an assembly. I was very popular then, of course, being so pretty like you will be, Jane. Young men did flock around me so!'

'I believe many men found you pleasant company, Mrs Bennet. It is a pity none of them wanted anything more than an evening's entertainment from you.'

'That is not in the least true, Mr Bennet. Many of them desired to marry me.'

'That would explain why you consented to be my wife without a thought of them.'

'Only because none of them were wealthy gentleman worthy of my regard. An evening's entertainment was all that I saw fit to give them.'

'I see it was my little fortune that secured your hand.'

'You were my only suitor who could keep me in comfort, and it was not as though I forced you to offer for me. I had been quite unaware of your intentions till you asked my brother for his permission to wed me.', retorted Mrs Bennet.

'Why did you offer for Mama, Papa?', asked Lizzy curiously.

'You see, my dear little girl, I had to marry a woman of my choosing before circumstances forced me to marry one I despised.'

'Why would you have to marry anyone you didn't like?', enquired Kitty.

'Because, Kitty dear, a woman wanted to marry me. She was called Emily White, and she was the widow of a friend of mine.'

'You mentioned her in the diary.', commented Mary.

'There, you can imagine how awful she must have been to have a mention in my diary that I rarely wrote in.'

'You wrote of Mama too.', pointed Jane.

'I was sort of infatuated with your mother, children, which is why she is the woman I chose when I was in a dire need of a wife. It was not love, but a sensible enough choice. She had a decent dowry, was... and still is beautiful and appeared to be an amiable enough partner. I could hardly ask for much better given the short notice. Besides, she could easily be persuaded to accept me.'

'Why did you have to get married in a hurry?', asked Lizzy.

'Emily White was intent on marrying me. Her husband... Robert, he was called, was madly in love with her, so much that he never realized that she wanted only wealth and status, and never saw her for the selfish, unfaithful creature she was. She, being a tradesman's daughter and he being a tradesman, no objections were raised to the match and they were married happily, but then Robert had an accident that led to his death.'

'How tragic.', murmured Jane.

'I like to think that he was fortunate to never discover the true nature of his wife. Scarcely was she out of mourning that Emily started dropping hints. It was obvious that she expected me to marry her, and then she could have my money as well as the status of being a gentleman's wife. I was probably the finest catch in her circle.'

'But you could have simply ignored her.', argued Lizzy.

'She was not the sort of woman to give up, my girl. She started finding ways to force me to enter matrimony with her. I knew that I could not stay vigilant forever. It was necessary that I married _someone_ and your mother seemed to be the best someone.'

'Did you know of this when you married Papa?', asked Mary turning to her mother.

'Yes, Mr Bennet told me the tale only a fortnight after we were acquainted, when he asked my brother's permission to marry me. My father was... he was dead and my brother was my guardian. Mr Bennet explained to him the situation, and he left the decision to me. I had been dissuading unacceptable suitors ever since I came out, and your father was finally a suitable man I could accept, being both well off and good looking. He was a gentleman, and honest too. And he admired me. So of course I accepted him. We were married within the month, and Emily White banished out of our lives for good.'

'Did you ever regret marrying each other so hastily?', asked Kitty.

Mr and Mrs Bennet exchanged looks.

'Enough with your questions, girls. Is It not time for lunch, Mrs Bennet?'

'I believe it is. Come along, girls.', said Mrs Bennet, hushing her daughters away.

Before leaving the study, she turned to glance at her husband and saw the silent apology in his eyes, mingled with regret. Frances Bennet never quite forgot that she was in an unequal marriage. Her husband regretted a relation that she never would. Because sometime in their loveless marriage, she had fallen in love.

 **A/N- In my mind, after the above scene, Mrs Bennet slowly fell out of love and discord grew among the Bennets till we finally saw the family as it was in Pride and Prejudice. I'm considering writing a Mr and Mrs Bennet story someday soon. Till then, do spread happiness - leave a review.**


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